Finally back to building!

[Chris Kleman]

After a much too long hiatus from building, I've finally made parts to get started again.   I'm hoping to make 2016 a return to flying and building year, starting with getting the LE finished.  Recently got a new tool in my shop, so I figure if it's going to use up shop space, I might as well put it to use - problem is it takes longer to pick up and bag the pieces and keep them separate than it takes to cut them now!  It's still faster than making them all by hand though!

[914pete]

After a much too long hiatus from building, I've finally made parts to get started again.   I'm hoping to make 2016 a return to flying and building year, starting with getting the LE finished.  Recently got a new tool in my shop, so I figure if it's going to use up shop space, I might as well put it to use - problem is it takes longer to pick up and bag the pieces and keep them separate than it takes to cut them now!  It's still faster than making them all by hand though!

That's so cool.

[Tom H]

Add the smell of burned wood to dope, paint, hot oil, rubber, fuel etc. to the homebuilders experience.

[Will Weidner]

Chris, can you make the nose ribs with that?  Looks like it would make them no problem.

[Chris Kleman]

Chris, can you make the nose ribs with that? Looks like it would make them no problem.

It should be able to do the nose ribs too, so I plan to cut my nose ribs out with it as well (and the aileron plywood nose pieces too - essentially any of the wing plywood parts aside from the leading edge skin).  I'll have to pick up some aircraft plywood and do some testing to get the settings dialed in, but I did cut through a piece of cheap 1/4" plywood complete with air voids and variations in thickness, so aircraft grade should work even better.

[ParQld]

Chris,

I did my DE nose ribs this way, With the nesting you can can get all the ribs on one sheet plus heaps extra. Just have to make sure you sand them well to get rid of the burn marks to ensure gut glue adhesion. I added .5mm around the out side of the ribs to allow for this.


here is a video


cheers Paul

[dz1sfb]

Laser work is definitely a business opportunity.
Ken

[Vince Carucci]

Paul, which nesting program was used? Just curious.

Vince

[dz1sfb]

I was wondering if Nose Ribs were getting the lower corner clipped?

Ken

[ParQld]

@ Vince and @dz1sfb (Ken). I scanned the rib from the plans and drew the outline in Sketchup. I think I then saved it as an EPS and it was imported into Illustrator. Probably should have skipped sketchup as it creates too many rough edges due to Polygon methodology of drawing.

The curves were smoothed out and dimensioning checked. We then added .5 mm to the outside edge to allow for sanding away the burn marks for better glue adhesion.
The rib was just manually nested in Illustrator.

The ribs that were clipped were deleted before the cutting run. I think from memory we could nest about up to 74 ribs on a 4' X 4' sheet of ply. far too many so i had them delete some and was able to use some of the timber for other items. In other words very efficient. The cutting took 1 hour 26 minutes.

Cheers Pauk

[dz1sfb]

@ Vince and @dz1sfb (Ken). I scanned the rib from the plans and drew the outline in Sketchup. I think I then saved it as an EPS and it was imported into Illustrator. Probably should have skipped sketchup as it creates too many rough edges due to Polygon methodology of drawing. The curves were smoothed out and dimensioning checked. We then added .5 mm to the outside edge to allow for sanding away the burn marks for better glue adhesion. The rib was just manually nested in Illustrator. The ribs that were clipped were deleted before the cutting run. I think from memory we could nest about up to 74 ribs on a 4' X 4' sheet of ply. far too many so i had them delete some and was able to use some of the timber for other items. In other words very efficient. The cutting took 1 hour 26 minutes. Cheers Pauk

Very nice. You might consider offering this as a service.

Also there are ways to tighten up the number of facets in SketchUp. I use version 7 for my kit business. It also serves as a post processor.

Ken

[Tom XL-7]

Ken as to your question
"I was wondering if Nose Ribs were getting the lower corner clipped?"
Page 42  Shows the nose rib full size. The bottom where it touches the spar is clipped.
Dwg. calls it "drain cut"
Some people would refer to it as  a weep. 
A condensation drain
Tom XL-7

[ParQld]

Thanks @Tom XL-7, I think i misunderstood the question about clipped. The laser cut these out on mine as will.

@ken, There are not may Eagles being built here in Australia, so offering a service could be wishfull thinking. Who knows when i am finished my DE I might look at what i can offer to local folks to help. What sort of kit business do you have? I use Sketchup a bit and am keen to learn and use it more

regards Paul

[dz1sfb]

Paul,
Click on the link to my web site below my name and you'll get to see what I do. Mostly model stuff.

Ken

[dz1sfb]

Ken as to your question "I was wondering if Nose Ribs were getting the lower corner clipped?" Page 42 Shows the nose rib full size. The bottom where it touches the spar is clipped. Dwg. calls it "drain cut" Some people would refer to it as a weep. A condensation drain Tom XL-7

Thanks for the clarification Tom.

Ken